YEP Letters December 19

I ATTEMPTED to park in Grafton Street in Leeds on Wednesday evening, which I had done several times before, as it gives good access for the Grand Theatre.

The parking meter would not accept money and I did not have my telephone or credit card with me, so could not use the alternative method of paying at the time. I later registered with the telephone pay system, which took several minutes, all charged at an above average rate for the call. I then find that the parking actually cost £3.45 instead of £3 if I had paid by cash.

I appreciate the council is short of money and by reducing the number of machines will save on collection fees etc. But in future I am going to have to pay for a phone call and then pay extra to park. What about those without phones or credit cards? Is this really how Leeds citizens should be treated?

Time to ditch our naivety about the EU

John Roberts, Wakefield

It has been interesting to read the comments by regional politicians of late about the EU.

One thing I have observed is how many Remainers are more defined by being anti-Brexit than being pro-EU. Probably because they know that the idea of further integration is a turn-off for most people? Why would we lock ourselves in an institution for another 40 years that we fundamentally don’t really like?

If you are in a relationship, say, or a job that was making you unhappy (being bullied or controlled adversely), what do you do? You have two options; maybe try to obtain concessions; “change from within” to use a popular term. But if you cannot do that for whatever reason, you leave, don’t you? To use plain language, you tell them where to get off.

We have clearly seen what happens when we try to negotiate concessions from the EU. The 2016 referendum was about leaving, not how to leave. A simple question of principle. The fact that we had the referendum at all is surely a clear indication we never really liked the project; Maastricht, the Lisbon treaty, the Euro...the dreary stuff goes on.

The EU has never been a static entity, yet Remainers never explain why they wish to deepen the structures of the EU. Why? Because they know most people, at heart, do not want it! We never hear substantial reasons why we should remain in the crumbling edifice.

If I behaved like Jean Claude Junker towards my female colleagues at work (ruffling a woman’s hair) I would quite rightly be disciplined. What amazes me is how the normally virtue-signalling Liberal/left Remainers who would normally affect to despise such behaviour seem to turn a blind eye to such things when it comes to the EU. Surely Remainers, if they are honest with themselves, can see as well as I can that the Eurocrats have a fundamentally bad attitude towards our decision to leave.

Yet many conveniently conflate the EU with Europe. The EU is not Europe; I love Europe, not the EU! The rise of popularism and nationalism in Italy (Five Star), Germany (The Afd), and other places is a direct result of the EU. What is happening in France at the moment is hardly a good advert for the EU, is it? Young people in Greece are pretty unhappy too, with unemployment as a result of the Euro. Please, let us just leave the wretched project in March – our children will thank us for it. Let us ditch our naivety about the EU.

Making a meal of it at concert

Carol Warrington, Sicklinghall, Wetherby.

I AGREE with Christine Jagger’s remarks in her letter ‘Spoiling the show’ (YEP, December 15).

A few months ago, my daughter and I went to a concert at the First Direct Arena. Throughout the whole concert, there were people backwards and forwards, bringing in drinks and food, so we were constantly having to get up to let them past and then put up with the rustling of food being unwrapped and tins of drink being opened.

She had brought some sandwiches to eat in the foyer before we went into the auditorium as she had not had been able to eat before she came out. That was confiscated when our bags were searched before we even got through the door.

At one time in a theatre, the bars were closed when a concert or play started.

An offer to Brexiteers

Alan Slomson, Leeds 6

Is there a Brexiteer out there who will agree to buy my flat? Of course, I won’t tell you the price or let you look round it until you have made a binding agreement to buy it.

There are over one million young people now on the electoral register who were not eligible to vote in the referendum. Is it democratic to deny these young people a say in the future of their country where they are likely to live for much longer than the average Brexiteer?

Oxbridge leadership has failed us, not EU

Robert Reynolds, Cleckheaton.

I HAVEN’T commented on the national disaster called Brexit – until now. It’s quite clear, to myself, that this is not about taking back control. It’s about hating foreigners and our imperialist past.

Why any country should be proud of its empire, I do not know. Such relationships are based on the strong abusing the weak. As for control, control of what? The British people have never controlled their lives.

Our common land was stolen by kings; our children forced to work in mines and factories; our Parliament ignored our plight and we fought and died in wars that made the rich more wealthy.

So who will be taking back control? You can guess.

This Christmas tens of thousands of our people will again be living in squalor without any family home. Again our Parliament turns a blind eye.

Be in no doubt, the “educated idiot” Cameron/Blair style of Oxbridge leadership has failed our country for decades. That is Britain’s greatest failure – not the EU.

We are better off in the EU

Ken Cooke, Ilkley.

THE European Parliament approved a free trade agreement between Japan and the EU last week, covering 635 million people and almost one-third of the world’s economy.

Dubbed the world’s largest free trade agreement, the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement will remove duties on almost all agricultural and industrial products as well as open up the service sector and procurement.

Why would the UK want to walk away from the EU when such comprehensive deals are being achieved? And this is not simply about free trade, but about the ‘level playing field’ – fair business and employment conditions in partner countries.

What deals has Liam Fox got lined up for the UK in the event of a Brexit? Not one. Clearly we are much better off as a member of the EU. Stop Brexit!

Democracy under threat

David Collins, Scissett.

DEMOCRACY in the UK is under threat. It is under threat from our MPs.

They asked a question and got an answer. It was Brexit. Now they must do as they were told.

If MPs can’t accept Brexit, they have two choices. Either withdraw from the debate and keep out of the way, or resign their seat forthwith.

The rest then need to get on with it, using the best brains available. There is no room for party politics, after all political parties only have less than a million members in total.

The other millions of us are more interested in results than petty Parliamentary quarrels. If not, the EU will be the least of our problems, it will be Westminster itself that is in danger of becoming even more meaningless.

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